Mayan people join action to keep honey GE free

Recently members of the Mayan people living on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico joined Greenpeace activists and said no to genetically engineered crops. Using their own bodies to form the message ‘MA OGM’ or ‘No to GE’, 2000 activists gathered at eight different Mayan archaeological sites to draw attention to the risks of contamination of honey production by Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) soy.

Monsanto has requested authorization to plant commercial GE soy in Mexico despite a previous court order that invalidated a permit to plant 30 000 hectares with ‘pilot sowing’ of GE soy in the States of Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo. Out of the 253 000 hectares that have been applied for, 60 000 are planned in Yucatan and if approved it could be only a matter of time before the Mexican honey is contaminated by Monsanto’s GE soybean pollen.

The Governor of Yucatan, Ivonne Ortega Pacheco has already said she is in favour of declaring Yucatan GE-free and she made a request to this effect to the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture. The action also aimed to encourage municipalities and other States to declare themselves GE-free and to get the Mexican federal government to ratify these decisions and give them legal standing. Earlier this year, Greenpeace protested to the Mexican authorities as they ignored the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food – Olivier de Schutter to restore the moratorium on GE maize in the country.

Your job is amazing and so important. I think it is great to see how you can work with the communities and local NGOs. I believe the Maya, as all other cultures, deserve respect as they have always respected and protected Mother Earth. Monsanto is not only destroying our food and affecting human life itself, but also Nature and the culture of different peoples all over the world.

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(Unregistered) Carlos Agu
says:

I like it is the people who write the message with their bodies, and not your clasic bannners. So sad to know how the bees' interaction is being d...

I like it is the people who write the message with their bodies, and not your clasic bannners. So sad to know how the bees' interaction is being disturbed by the way big corporations grow food now. GMOs should be banned all over the world.